Year 11 students from the academy’s Aspire Programme had the chance to improve their critical thinking and study skills, in a special session. They studied and discussed ways to improve their long term memory and lock in key knowledge for their future studies into Sixth Form, tertiary studies and beyond.

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The Head of the English Faculty Lorna Jones, who led the session, said: “The concepts and methods we can use to improve our memory and retention of ideas is very exciting. I really hope we can offer another session to build on what we’ve started here.”

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More than 20 students chose to take part and examined study skills, dual coding and memory skills across different subject disciplines. They learned about the Leitner method of study, which is the concept of a spaced repetition approach to memorisation, developing long term retention of knowledge rather than simply trying to cram information at the last minute.

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As well as stressing the importance of sleep, students also found out about the Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve, showing how memory is lost over time and how to counter this, as well as the importance of cardiovascular exercise. They learned that exercise which raises the heart and breathing rate can boost the size of the hippocampus in the brain – which has a major role in our learning and memory.

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The session was the latest Aspire event for Year 11. The programme seeks to promote opportunities for some of our talented young people, such as webinars about future university entrance, applications to join the NSPCC’s Board for Change, scholarships and entry to Russell Group Universities.

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